Michiko Kakutani

An urgent examination of the great wave of change breaking over today s world from the Pulitzer Prize winning critic and New York Times bestselling author of The Death of Truth A profoundly inspiring and prophetic perspective on the contemporary world Ai Weiwei

An urgent examination of how disruptive politics, technology, and art are capsizing old assumptions in a great wave of change breaking over todays world, creating both opportunity and perilfrom the Pulitzer Prizewinning critic and author of the New York Times bestseller The Death of Truth. In this dazzling and brilliant book, Michiko Kakutani explains the cascading chaos of our era and points to ways that we can regain some stability.Walter Isaacson, author of Elon MuskThe twenty-first century is experiencing a watershed moment defined by chaos and uncertainty, as one emergency cascades into another, underscoring the larger dynamics of change that are fueling instability across the world. Since the global financial crisis of 2008, people have increasingly lost trust in institutions and elites, while seizing upon new digital tools to sidestep traditional gatekeepers. As a result, powerful new voicesonce regarded as radical, unorthodox, or marginalare disrupting the status quo in politics, business, and culture. Meanwhile, social and economic inequalities are stoking populist rage across the world, toxic partisanship is undermining democratic ideals, and the internet and AI have become high-speed vectors for the spread of misinformation. Writing with a critics understanding of cultural trends and a journalists eye for historical detail, Michiko Kakutani looks at the consequences of these new asymmetries of power. She maps the migration of ideas from the margins to the mainstream and explores the growing influence of outsidersthose who have sown chaos and fear (like Donald Trump), and those who have provided inspirational leadership (like Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelensky). At the same time, she situates todays multiplying crises in context with those that defined earlier hinge moments in history, from the waning of the Middle Ages to the transition between the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era at the end of the nineteenth century. Kakutani argues that todays crises are not only signs of an interconnected globes profound vulnerabilities, but also stress tests pointing to the essential changes needed to survive this tumultuous era and build a more sustainable future.

Pulitzer Prizewinning literary critic Michiko Kakutani shares 100 personal, thought-provoking essays about books that have mattered to her and that help illuminate the world we live in todaywith beautiful illustrations throughout.A book tailormade for bibliophiles.Oprah WinfreyAn ebullient celebration of books and reading.Publishers Weekly (starred review)In the introduction to her new collection of essays, Ex Libris: 100+ Books to Read and Reread, Michiko Kakutani writes: In a world riven by political and social divisions, literature can connect people across time zones and zip codes, across cultures and religions, national boundaries and historical eras. It can give us an understanding of lives very different from our own, and a sense of the shared joys and losses of human experience. Readers will discover novels and memoirs by some of the most gifted writers working today; favorite classics worth reading or rereading; and nonfiction works, both old and new, that illuminate our social and political landscape and some of todays most pressing issues, from climate change to medicine to the consequences of digital innovation. There are essential works in American history (The Federalist Papers, The Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.); books that address timely cultural dynamics (Elizabeth Kolberts The Sixth Extinction, Daniel J. Boorstins The Image, Margaret Atwoods The Handmaids Tale); classics of childrens literature (the Harry Potter novels, Where the Wild Things Are); and novels by acclaimed contemporary writers like Don DeLillo, William Gibson, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Ian McEwan.With richly detailed illustrations by lettering artist Dana Tanamachi that evoke vintage bookplates, Ex Libris is an impassioned reminder of why reading matters more than ever.

An urgent examination of the great wave of change breaking over todays world from the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and New York Times bestselling author of The Death of TruthA profoundly inspiring and prophetic perspective on the contemporary world Ai Weiwei In the twenty-first century, a wave of political, cultural and technological change has capsized our old certainties and assumptions, creating both opportunity and danger. As people lose their faith in old institutions and elites, radical voices at the margins and the grassroots are disrupting the status quo. This is the time of the outsider the protester, the populist, the hacker. Some of these outsiders have sown chaos, like Donald Trump, and others have provided inspirational leadership, like Volodymyr Zelensky. But all have grasped this precarious moment to make something new. Writing with a critics incisive understanding of cultural trends, Michiko Kakutani outlines the consequences of these new asymmetries of power, and looks back to similar hinge moments in history, from the waning of the Middle Ages to the aftermath of the Second World War, to find a way forward. For there is, Kakutani argues, always the promise of transformation in times of turmoil. We can surrender to the waters, give in to the gathering chaos, or we can use the waves momentum to propel us into a more stable and sustainable future.

From the most powerful book critic in the English-speaking world (Vanity Fair) comes an inspiring and beautifully illustrated selection of the life-changing books that none of us should missWhy do we love books so much? For legendary literary critic Michiko Kakutani, books have always been an escape and a sanctuary, the characters of some novels feeling so real to her childhood self that she worried they might leap out of the pages at night if she left the book cover open. In Ex Libris, she offers a personal selection of over 100 works of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, with passionate essays on why each has had a profound effect on her life. From Homers The Odyssey to The Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Margaret Atwoods The Handmaids Tale to Elena Ferrantes Neapolitan Novels, Ex Libris covers a rich and vast range of classics, old and new, that will help build a well-rounded reader and citizen of the world. With gorgeous illustrations by lettering artist Dana Tanamachi that evoke vintage bookplates leafed between Kakutanis inspiring essays, Ex Libris points us to our next great read and proves an unmissable reminder of why we fell in love with reading in the first place.

From a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic comes an impassioned critique of the Wests retreat from reason.The Death of Truth is destined to become the defining treatise of our age David Grann The first great book of the Trump administration essential reading Rolling Stone We live in a time when the very idea of objective truth is mocked and discounted by the US President. Discredited conspiracy theories and ideologies have resurfaced, proven science is once more up for debate, and Russian propaganda floods our screens. The wisdom of the crowd has usurped research and expertise, and we are each left clinging to the beliefs that best confirm our biases. How did truth become an endangered species? This decline began decades ago, and in The Death of Truth, former New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani takes a penetrating look at the cultural forces that contributed to this gathering storm. In social media and literature, television, academia, and political campaigns, Kakutani identifies the trends originating on both the right and the left that have combined to elevate subjectivity over factuality, science, and common values. And she returns us to the words of the great critics of authoritarianism, writers like George Orwell and Hannah Arendt, whose work is newly and eerily relevant. With remarkable erudition and insight, Kakutani offers a provocative diagnosis of our current condition and presents a path forward for our truth-challenged times.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the Pulitzer Prizewinning critic comes an impassioned critique of Americas retreat from reasonWe live in a time when the very idea of objective truth is mocked and discounted by the occupants of the White House. Discredited conspiracy theories and ideologies have resurfaced, proven science is once more up for debate, and Russian propaganda floods our screens. The wisdom of the crowd has usurped research and expertise, and we are each left clinging to the beliefs that best confirm our biases. How did truth become an endangered species in contemporary America? This decline began decades ago, and in The Death of Truth, former New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani takes a penetrating look at the cultural forces that contributed to this gathering storm. In social media and literature, television, academia, and politics, Kakutani identifies the trendsoriginating on both the right and the leftthat have combined to elevate subjectivity over factuality, science, and common values. And she returns us to the words of the great critics of authoritarianism, writers like George Orwell and Hannah Arendt, whose work is newly and eerily relevant. With remarkable erudition and insight, Kakutani offers a provocative diagnosis of our current condition and points toward a new path for our truth-challenged times.

En Los orígenes del totalitarismo, Hannah Arendt escribió que "el sujeto ideal para un gobierno totalitario no es el nazi convencido ni el comunista convencido, sino el individuo para quien la distincion entre hechos y ficcion, y entre lo verdadero y lo falso han dejado de existir". En este libro, Michiko Kakutani advierte que las palabras de Hannah Arendt ya no parecen referirse a acontecimientos de hace mas de un siglo sino que describen lo que ocurre en el mundo en que hoy vivimos. Kakutani analiza como los diversos populismos y fundamentalismos erosionan la idea de verdad y las instituciones democraticas al imponer el miedo y la ira por encima del debate razonado, y de que manera se imponen aquellas construcciones retoricas que apelan unicamente a la emocion y al sentimiento. ¿Como ha sido posible que la verdad y la razon se hayan convertido en especies en peligro de extincion? ¿Que augurasignifica su agonia para nuestro discurso publico y el futuro de nuestras politicas y nuestra gobernanza? Responder a todas estas cuestiones es el objeto de este libro.

En Los orígenes del totalitarismo, Hannah Arendt escribió que ''el sujeto ideal para un gobierno totalitario no es el nazi convencido ni el comunista convencido, sino el individuo para quien la distincion entre hechos y ficcion, y entre lo verdadero y lo falso han dejado de existir''. En este libro, Michiko Kakutani advierte que las palabras de Hannah Arendt ya no parecen referirse a acontecimientos de hace mas de un siglo sino que describen lo que ocurre en el mundo en que hoy vivimos. Kakutani analiza como los diversos populismos y fundamentalismos erosionan la idea de verdad y las instituciones democraticas al imponer el miedo y la ira por encima del debate razonado, y de que manera se imponen aquellas construcciones retoricas que apelan unicamente a la emocion y al sentimiento. ¿Como ha sido posible que la verdad y la razon se hayan convertido en especies en peligro de extincion? ¿Que augurasignifica su agonia para nuestro discurso publico y el futuro de nuestras politicas y nuestra gobernanza? Responder a todas estas cuestiones es el objeto de este libro.En Los orígenes del totalitarismo, Hannah Arendt escribió que ''el sujeto ideal para un gobierno totalitario no es el nazi convencido ni el comunista convencido, sino el individuo para quien la distincion entre hechos y ficcion, y entre lo verdadero y lo falso han dejado de existir''. En este libro, Michiko Kakutani advierte que las palabras de Hannah Arendt ya no parecen referirse a acontecimientos de hace mas de un siglo sino que describen lo que ocurre en el mundo en que hoy vivimos. Kakutani analiza como los diversos populismos y fundamentalismos erosionan la idea de verdad y las instituciones democraticas al imponer el miedo y la ira por encima del debate razonado, y de que manera se imponen aquellas construcciones retoricas que apelan unicamente a la emocion y al sentimiento. ¿Como ha sido posible que la verdad y la razon se hayan convertido en especies en peligro de extincion? ¿Que augurasignifica su agonia para nuestro discurso publico y el futuro de nuestras politicas y nuestra gobernanza? Responder a todas estas cuestiones es el objeto de este libro.